Drawn to Life: That Other Chapter
by TimeSeerStudios
Summary: In this humorous rewrite of the severely under-developed videogame, Drawn to Life the Next Chapter Wii Edition, there is now more drama, more action, and more hilarity than ever before! Follow the bizarre adventures of Drew and Jowee as they attempt again and again to find and defeat a mysterious shadow raposa who has begun to wreak havoc all across the known world.
1. Introduction: The New Deputy Mayor

A long, long time ago, Circi had lived in the same village as Wilfre. She knew the stories all too well: it was why she'd left. Circi had been one of the first to leave when disaster struck, cowardly as it was. But moving to another village wasn't enough to keep her away from him. Or the other way around, either, for that matter…

She left her roots behind, hoping none of the other Raposas would realize she had once known the cause of their despair, even idolized him, for a while at least. Then, as far as anyone could tell, he'd gone totally nuts and ripped out a bunch of pages from the Book of Life. Covered in shadow, he vanished, leaving behind devastation. There was no explaining THAT away. He'd made quite a mess, and Circi didn't plan on being the one stuck cleaning up.

Then a few years later, the mess followed her.

Shadowy gunk began to appear in the village overnight. No one saw it arrive, it was just… There. As far as they could tell, it wasn't doing anything. Just sitting there. Some of the boldest children would poke it with sticks, but soon gave up when it proved unresponsive or their parents would shoo them away. It was almost as if it was… Waiting.

Circi didn't like it. Not one bit.

So, one day, she decided to remove the stuff, a jar-full at a time. True, in hind-sight, this probably wasn't the best plan, especially when they had no idea if it was dangerous or not, but Circi was determined to try. She always was a stubborn rapogirl.

Circi cautiously approached a large lump of it. The piles seemed to slowly grow, almost as if they were alive…

She clutched a jar in one paw and leaned down to scoop some in…

And before she could react, a shadowy hand formed from the sludge and grabbed her arm, dragging her in.

Her shrieks fell on deaf ears.

…

"Circi?" Mari's voice jolted the Raposa's mind back to the present. "Are you alright?"

"You kinda zoned out there a little…" agreed Jowee.

"I'm fine,"Circi replied calmly. "Just… Thinking about something, is all." Mari and Jowee glanced at each other, slightly misinterpreting her meaning.

"About being Deputy Mayor now, you mean?" Jowee smiled at her cheerfully. "Everyone was so happy when they heard. You're perfect for the job."

"Plus," Mari added, nodding, "I really do need the help… I'm sure you'll do great."

"Aw, you two are too sweet," she laughed. "I'll do my best." She paused a moment, as if thinking of something. "Well, I ought to be off. There's work to do around here, after all. I'll see you both around!"

"Your first day as Deputy Mayor and you're already jumping into it?" asked Mari, pleasantly surprised. "You really have an impressive work ethic!"

"No kidding," Jowee said with a sheepish smile. "I'm glad it's you and not me... I can't even wake up on time, let alone help run the village." Indeed, Jowee had managed to sleep well past noon that morning, and had only woken when he did because Mari decided he'd slept in enough.

Circi smiled slightly at that, then headed off with a wave, trotting into the empty Village Hall. As soon as she was out of sight, she grinned crookedly.

"Phase 1 complete," she chuckled. "Those fools don't suspect a thing… I think it's about time to start phase 2."

Then she made a sound a bit like what a demented mouse's squeaking might sound like.

"… Hmph. I think my evil laugh is a bit rusty…"

…

As it turned out, Circi really was perfect for the job of Deputy Mayor. She was clever, hardworking, and most importantly, she clearly took her position very seriously. There were even days when Mari found she actually had time to pause and take a breath, as Circi had already handled all the day's problems. Mari had known she was a keen worker, but she had never expected this.

A week passed, then a month, and Mari found she was very impressed with her new helper. An entire month at work, and so far as she could tell, Circi hadn't made a single mistake. In fact… Mari's confidence-lacking side was pretty sure Circi was doing better at this than she ever had.

"Nah," said Jowee when she mentioned this worrying thought to him one day. "She's doing great and all, but she could never replace you. She just has more experience, that's all… She's older than us after all. I bet you'll catch up to her in no time."

"Yeah," Mari agreed half-heartedly, "I guess you're right…" She smiled a bit. "Thanks, Jowee."

"No problem," he answered cheerfully.

Little did either of them realize this would be the last calm moment they would share for quite a long time…

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 1: Divine Intervention

"Welcome, and feel free to stay as long as you like, DJ and Erica." Mari was currently addressing yet another set of refugees from the eastern forests, a pair of young adults who, from what Mari could understand, were actually due to be married in the next couple of days. However, their plans had been delayed due to the evacuation of their town…

"Thank you so much, Mayor Mari…" Erica said, clearly relieved by the news. "When the monkeys arrived and started wrecking town, we weren't sure what we were going to do…" When they had both headed off, Jowee glanced to Mari, frowning.

"You know…" he stated, "It's kinda weird for the monkeys from Jangala to be coming to Raposa villages… I thought they never left the trees."

"It IS a bit strange," Mari agreed. "I just wish I knew what was going on…"

…

"IT'S GONE!" Mari forced herself to calm down and look around, but panic was threatening to consume her entirely. "The Book of Life… I only set it down for a second! Where could it have gone?!" Finding that the missing object was nowhere in the immediate vicinity, she struggled to keep a bit of composure, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "Rapo… How could I have lost the Book of Life?" She cursed her own foolishness, and headed off out of Village Hall to go find Jowee again. True, he'd probably freak out a bit at first, but at least he'd keep it a secret if she asked him to…

"Jowee," she dashed right up to him. She must have looked like a total train wreck, since he immediately gave her a concerned look.

"Hey… Is something wrong, Mari?"

"Jowee… Don't tell anyone, okay… But… Have you seen the Book of Life, or anything like it-"

"You LOST the Book of Life?!" He yelped, alarmed, and he would've said more if she didn't immediately clap a paw over his mouth.

"We can't let the whole village know about this… It has to stay a secret, okay? I think we both know how everyone would react…" Jowee reluctantly nodded now, so Mari let go of him.

"… Well… I haven't seen it anywhere, no… You don't think someone took it by mistake, do you?"

"I really hope it was a mistake…" Mari answered, frowning. "The last thing we need is another Wilfre…"

"Hey, maybe Circi has an idea of who would have taken it?" Jowee thought for a moment. "It wouldn't be bad for her to know, right? I mean, she's pretty responsible and all… I don't think she'd leak something like this." Mari perked up slightly.

"… You're right… She might know something. She's pretty smart." The two set out immediately, and found her in no time at all, talking with another of the many refugee raposas.

"Hey, Circi, could we talk to you for a second?" asked Mari.

"No problem, hun." The trio stepped off a ways, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Circi asked, "So, what's the trouble? You both look awful flustered."

"The Book of Life is missing," Mari said unhappily, and when Circi raised an eyebrow, she added, "Do you have any ideas on who might have taken it..?"

"Well," Circi said, thinking a moment. "Come to think of it, I did see Crazy Barks wandering around with some great big book on his head earlier… That might've been it, but I can't be sure, since you never showed it to me and all…" Mari realized with a jolt that this was true. They had never brought out the Book of Life when Circi was around… They had never needed it.

"So, uh… Would you mind talking to him..?" asked Jowee a bit timidly.

"Are you crazy?" asked Circi, looking upset. "That rapo's a seriously weird piece of work. He might bite me!"

"I'm not interested in being bit either…" Mari stated, frowning.

"NOT IT!" yelled Jowee. Both the other raposas raised eyebrows at him. "Heh…"

"In all seriousness though," Circi pointed out, "You've known him longer than me. You're slightly less likely to need a rabies shot after chatting with him…"

"You're the Deputy Mayor," Mari pointed out. "So, I should be the one giving the orders."

"I'm older, hun. Seniority trumps status."

Just as things were about to get ugly, a loud voice boomed from the sky.

_"THAT'S ENOUGH!"_ All three raposas stared at the sky, stunned.

"Creator?" asked Mari, amazed.

_"Yes,"_ the rather exasperated sounding voice answered. _"I will send Drew back to you. He will be able to help."_ Mari and Circi let out their held breaths, relieved. _"Now, go to Creation Hall, and I shall recreate the hero of the raposas."_

Jowee and Mari were quite enthused and headed off at once, not even noticing Circi's wicked grin as she followed after them.

"Perfect," she purred, unheard by the overjoyed duo.

…

"Welcome back, Drew!" cried an excited Jowee, looking up at his old "friend" happily. Friend was to be used rather loosely here, as it seemed Drew and Jowee had quite the love-hate relationship. Jowee loved Drew, but Drew hated Jowee. Well, a lot of the time anyway. At the moment, he was just annoyed.

"Thanks," the hero grumbled, then sneezed. "Would it have killed you to dust me off once in a while?" He stretched his creaky mannequin joints unhappily. "So, what is it this time, then?" At this Drew sneezed again, prompting a fit of giggles from Mari.

"Sorry about the dust, Drew," she apologized. "We never expected to need to call on you again…"

"Oh," Drew said snidely, clearly in a pouty mood. "So you intended to just leave me to rot in the attic after telling me I should've never been created, then sending me to do your dirty work. I feel so much better now."

"Sorry…" Mari said again, this time more guiltily.

"Well, it's great to have you back anyway, Drew!" exclaimed Jowee happily, apparently unaffected by Drew's hostility.

"But really, what is the problem?" Drew repeated.

"The Book of Life is missing," answered Mari, frowning. "We think Crazy Barks took it. Could you go ask him, please, Drew?"

Drew blinked. "That's it?"

"Yeah," admitted Jowee. "That's it."

"No long crazy baki-filled adventures? No scuba-diving with carnivorous shadow fish? No battling giant talking trees?"

"Nope." Mari said. "You just have to ask Crazy Barks about the book. That's all."

"You're serious."

"Yeah..?"

Drew grinned and did a little cheer. "YES! Finally something easy!" Jowee smiled sheepishly.

"But maybe we could, later you know, go on an adve-"

"NO."

"Please?"

"The answer's no, Jowee." Drew gave him an annoyed look. "We're not having a repeat of the Twilite Wood incident. Not now, not ever." Jowee drooped slightly. "Now, let's go get this over with."

Drew started to head out the door when he noticed Circi peering in. He gave her a suspicious look. He had a bad feeling about this raposa, though he had no idea why.

"Who're you?" he asked. "I haven't seen you around before…"

"I'm Circi," she said slightly timidly. "I'm the new Deputy Mayor."

"… Huh. Interesting." He resumed his walk out the door. Drew really hoped the raposas weren't going to make things all complicated again…

…

"What do you mean Crazy Barks is gone?!" Drew was not pleased by this news. Not. One. BIT.

"He ran off into that gate…" Heather said unhappily, peering at the gate beside them. It was the Forest gate, which led to the many dense forests and jungles to the east of the village. "I don't know why…" Only Drew noticed Circi's strange glance in the direction of the gate. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her then made an irritated huff.

"I should have known it couldn't be that easy…"

Jowee gave him a hopeful look. "So, this means you're going on an adventure?"

"I guess so," grumbled Drew.

"Can I-"

"NO."

"Aw, come on, Drew! Please?" Jowee gave Drew his best approximation of puppy dog eyes.

"The answer's still no." Drew started heading toward the gate.

"I'll just follow you later!" Jowee warned.

"I swear to the Creator," Drew snapped, giving the raposa an intense glare, "If you follow me through that gate, I WILL TIE YOU TO A RAPOING TREE."

"… Ha ha Drew, very funny…" Jowee said, clearly not taking the threat seriously. "Nice joke…"

'I wasn't joking,' Drew thought, aggravated, but he did not say this aloud. He had a feeling the Creator would not approve. With that, he headed through the gate to resume his heroic activities…

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 2: One Thing After Another

"Drew, what are you doing?" Jowee's voice jolted Drew from his thoughts, causing him to turn and glare at the raposa.

"JOWEE. I told you not to follow me!" Jowee just grinned and leaned back against a tree.

"Has that ever stopped me before?" He pointed out. "And anyway… Really, Drew. I don't think that Baki is going to be attacking anyone again for a LOOONG time." Drew looked down, and realized he'd whacked the same Baki about 10 times. Even the mannequin had to admit that was slightly overkill.

"Eh… True." Drew made an aggravated sight and let the unconscious critter be.

…

"Jowee, can I see your scarf for a minute?" Jowee gave Drew a puzzled look, but took it off and offered it obligingly.

"What are you gonna do with tha-" Fast as a flash, Drew grabbed the raposa, used the scarf to tie his hands, then tied the other end to a branch of a tree, hanging him from it. Jowee yelped in alarm and struggled, but it did no good.

"Drew!" he squeaked, "Wh-What are you doing?! You can't just leave me here!"

"Watch me." Drew started to head off.

"But… But… I thought we were friends!"

"You thought wrong."

…

"Drew? You okay? You look kinda… Distant." Drew snapped out of his fantasy and glanced at the little raposa hopping along beside him, that bell on his scarf making an annoying jingling sure to let every Baki within a mile know where they were. The sound grated on Drew's already frayed nerves a bit, too.

"I'm fine." Jowee didn't look convinced, so he added, "I was just thinking about something, is all."

"… Ah." Jowee just followed for a while, silent except for that bell…

"Jowee," Drew asked finally. "How the RAPO did you follow me without me hearing that bell?" Jowee blinked.

"Well… I held onto it, to keep it from being so loud…" Drew made another irritated sigh.

"Great. Even you can outsmart me." Jowee blinked in surprise. But he wasn't sure how to respond to this strange comment, so he decided to just keep quiet. It seemed to him that Drew was acting very strangely… He didn't understand why, except that maybe he had done something wrong. Drew hadn't really said why he was so upset after waking up, after all…

The two searched far and wide throughout the nearest section of Jangala jungle, but they never found a trace of Crazy Barks… When they reached the farthest reaches before the monkeys' territory, Drew paused a long moment.

"How long have we even been out here..?" Asked Jowee, frowning. He was starting to look rather exhausted, but was so preoccupied with impressing Drew that he forced himself to hide it.

"A few hours, at least," Drew answered. He looked around, frowning. "… There's no way Crazy Barks could have wandered all the way out here."

"Then where would he be?"

"Knowing my luck… We'd better head back to the village."

…

Just as Drew had begun to suspect, Crazy Barks was, in fact, back in the village. Apparently he had only been outside the gate for approximately 10 seconds, grabbing the leaf he always wore on his head, which had blown away. But the worst part was to come.

"This," Drew said, just barely keeping his temper under control, "Is NOT the Book of Life." Indeed, the book which Crazy Barks had been carrying around was just an encyclopedia from… Well, no one could make sense of where he got it from. Either way, this meant that the Book of Life was still missing in action. Which meant Drew's job wasn't done yet.

Crazy Barks snatched the book back after a moment. "Crazybarksisguardinghisbookofsmarts! Bark bark!" He ran off with the book. Drew sighed.

"Then where the rapo is the Book of Life?!" He glanced at Jowee and Mari, who were both feeling pretty awkward from their mistake.

"Well…" Mari said, frowning. "The only other raposa I can think of that might take it is Zsasha… He IS a thief, after all…"

"Seems a little obvious," pointed out Drew. "Besides… I thought he was trying to go clean?"

"Well," said Jowee, "I'm out of ideas. Wanna go get lunch?" He looked to Drew. "What're you up for, Drew?"

Drew gave him an annoyed look. "I already told you. I'm a mannequin. I don't eat."

"… Oh. Right." Jowee looked slightly depressed by this news, just as he had the past dozen times Drew had told him, before perking back up. "Mari, what about you?"

She never did get to answer Jowee's question, as at that moment, the bridge in front of them, connecting their location with the rest of village, faded away and vanished. Jowee's mouth dropped open in shock.

"What the rapo…?! The bridge just disappeared!"

"Thanks for the update, Captain Obvious," grumbled Drew. "The important question is WHY."

"The last time things started disappearing was when…" Mari trailed off. They all knew where this is going.

"Wilfre can't be back." Drew frowned, seeming almost sad. "I killed him myself."

"Who else would do something like this?" Asked Jowee.

"… I don't know," admitted Drew. "But it can't be Wilfre."

Mari looked at the large chasm unhappily. "The REALLY important question is how we're supposed to get back to the rest of the village…" For the first time since he'd been revived, Drew grinned.

"We jump. Well, I do. You two hold on and don't let go." They both stared at him skeptically.

"You can jump that far, Drew? Are you sure?" Jowee's ears had lowered, and he looked nervous.

"Of course I can." Drew peered at the chasm. "I've jumped gaps twice that far before. Sure, then I didn't have two raposas weighing me down, but trust me, I can do it."

"If you're SURE…"

…

"Mari," Drew muttered, "Next time you feel the need to scream, don't do it in my ear."

"Actually," Mari said, giving Jowee an annoyed look, "That was Jowee."

"Was not!" Protested Jowee childishly.

Drew paused a moment. "Come to think of it… I think that was Jowee. Wow. That must have been really embarrassing. Good thing no one heard." Jowee looked relieved for a moment, but Drew wasn't done. "Except the entire village." Jowee whirled around in horror-

And there was no one there.

"Made you look!" Drew grinned, and Jowee gave him a hurt look. "Consider it payback for having to drag you all through Jangala jungle."

Still slightly miffed, Jowee just frowned. "Let's just go, okay?" He started heading off without waiting for the rest. Meanwhile, Mari was trying not to crack up.

"So," asked Drew, "How long are you going to let him think he screams like girl?"

"Hopefully forever." At this both of them busted up laughing.

"He's just too easy to mess with…" Drew chuckled, giving her a high-five. "Anyway, let's head after him before he thinks we got lost or something." He paused. "Or HE gets lost himself."

…

"So that wasn't the Book of Life Crazy Barks was running around with, huh? Bummer." Circi paused, thinking.

"And now the village bridge has disappeared!" finished Jowee nervously. Circi's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh dear!" she looked genuinely worried. "You don't think that awful Wilfre fellow is back for a bit of revenge, do you?"

"No," answered Drew instantly. "He's dead." Circi's eye seemed to twitch.

"Well, you never know, I suppose… What if you only thought he died? Who else would want to steal the Book of Life and start erasing things from the village?"

"Now, let's not jump to conclusions," said Mari unhappily. "We're going to need something more solid before we can be sure…"

"Yeah," agreed Jowee, before giving a nervous look back the way they came. "But we're going to have to tell the village SOMETHING… It's kinda hard to explain away a disappearing bridge." Mari sighed.

"You're right…" Mari frowned. "I guess I should go get it over with." She glanced back to the others. "But no mentioning Wilfre yet, okay? I don't want to get everyone worked up…"

…

As it turned out, it didn't matter that no one from the little meeting made any mention of Wilfre. The resident raposas of the village remembered the events of the last year all too well…

"This sounds like something Wilfre would do…" muttered Isaac.

"But daddy, you said he wouldn't bother us anymore…" Cindi peered up at her father with wide eyes, and he gave her a reassuring pet that did nothing to calm her.

"He could be back," said Indee unhappily. "Wilfre's one tricky guy…" More and more whispers started up among the gathered raposas, as the residents presented their theories and refugees from the east tried to figure out what was going on, not understanding a word.

"Guys..!" called Mari, trying to bring attention back to herself, to no avail. The mayor was ignored as panic spread through the crowd…

"NOW THAT'S ENOUGH!" Drew's sharp shout called them all to attention instantly. A startled hush fell over the village as they realized that he had returned, since he had not been present in the meeting until this moment. None of them had known their hero had been called to action once more.

"The Creator's hero…"

"Drew's back!"

"Welcome back!"

"Can you find my watch? It fell somewhere and I can't find it."

"Could you ask the Creator to make a-"

"QUIET!" Once again, the village fell silent, shocked by his outburst. "Now, I'm here to investigate what's going on, that's all. And, we cannot be sure yet that Wilfre is involved. He has not been seen or heard from since I defeated him, so it must be assumed that this is someone else's work. I WILL get to the bottom of this, but it's important that you all stay calm." He paused for a long moment. "Now, please give Mari your full attention." He stepped aside.

"Thanks Drew," she whispered before taking center stage. "Now… The important thing is that we all keep a lookout for strange things around the village. If you spot anything suspicious, let us know immediately. We need all the information we can get, since as of yet, we have no information at all." She paused. "… I think that's everything. Thanks." With that, she stepped off-stage and rejoined Drew, Jowee, and Circi.

"Well," Drew said as he noticed a line of raposas forming to chat with him. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long day…"

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 3: Drew's Identity Crisis

Now here comes the drama~! Brace yourselves. Oh, and another Circi flashback too, while I'm at it. Enjoy!

* * *

Circi looked at her paws in astonishment. She wasn't dead? What had even happened? All she could remember was the dark slime wrapping around her paw, pulling her into it… Then blackness. She looked around, startled by the sudden realization that the stuff had vanished. There was not even an ounce of the shadow goo in sight. What had happened to it..?

She rubbed her forehead, frowning. She felt… Strange. It wasn't necessarily a BAD sort of strange, just… Different. She felt… How DID she feel? She glanced down at her paws again. She felt… Powerful. That was it. She wasn't sure why. Why would she feel powerful? She was just a raposa, after all…

Wasn't she?

Driven on by an instinct she didn't recognize, she focused, and bit by bit, darkness seeped out of her fur, the shadowy substance covering her entirely, except for glowing white eyes, a cruel grin, and the scarlet earring she wore everywhere…

She should have been scared, but she wasn't. She had power, real power…

All thanks to her wonderful, artistic Wilfre. Ooh, that Wilfre…

How she longed to see him again. How had she ever been scared of such a beautiful creature? Circi silently slipped out of the village, eager to be reunited with her new love…

…

Circi blinked awake slowly. It was the day after the whole village had found out about the missing Book of Life… She grinned. Those fools.

Circi reached to her bedside table, grasping the large book she had set there a few nights before. Setting it in her lap, she began to flip through it, before finding a page featuring the drawing of the village sign.

"This will do nicely…" She tore the page from the book, and the sound of tearing paper seemed to echo throughout the room… "It is imperative that they believe my Wilfre has returned…"

…

"Hey, Drew!" Drew was woken by Mari's voice as she stepped into Creation Hall. He had chosen his pedestal to sleep on, since the raposas' beds were much too small for him. Besides… It was as close to a home as he had.

"What is it?" he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "Did you find anything helpful, Mari..?"

"Well, kind of…" She frowned. "I should have mentioned this before, but…"

"What is it then?" Drew snapped impatiently.

"A village to the east, near Jangala jungle, was attacked by the resident monkeys. That's why there's so many new raposas here…" Drew thought about this new information for a moment.

"Yeah, it would've been nice to know about that. Whoever it is that's stirring up trouble may have caused that, somehow…" He climbed to his feet. "I'd better head out there and see what's going on."

"Good luck," said Mari, following him for a moment. "I heard they're really aggressive…"

"Good thing Jowee's not coming then."

"AWWWW!" Drew hadn't even realized the young raposa was present.

"Well, you're not coming, Jowee," Drew repeated. "It's too dangerous."

"Please?" Jowee looked up at him hopefully.

"No." Drew started walking, but Jowee followed.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"PLEASE?"

"NO."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Okay, sure." Jowee just about jumped for joy.

"Really?"

"NO!" Drew's harsh tone nearly knocked Jowee over. "Look, you'll just hold me back, okay? Stay at the village where you belong for once, will you?" Jowee gave him a hurt look.

"But, Drew," he said unhappily, "I just want to help…"

"I don't need your help, okay?!" Drew snapped. "Just LEAVE ME ALONE!" He felt slightly better at letting some of his frustration out… Then he saw Jowee's pained expression, and realized he'd just done the raposa equivalent of kicking a puppy. The little raposa looked utterly miserable… Drew sighed.

"Alright, fine…" he grumbled. "I know I'm going to regret this later, but… Okay, you can come." Jowee perked up instantly.

"… Really?" He seemed a bit more cautious this time.

"Yes, really." Drew started heading toward the forest gate again. "Now, come on, before I change my mind." Jowee trotted along behind him happily, and Drew could swear the raposa was skipping. Just as Jowee's happiness started to become contagious, they started passing Zsasha's house…

"Hey, Drew!" called Zsasha, running out. "Would you mind fetching the Bubblegum Ring-"

Drew's fist punched right through the wall. Jowee's mouth dropped open.

"I'll just, uh, come back later…" Zsasha dashed back inside to try finding something to fix up the new hole in his wall. Jowee, meanwhile, was still staring at Drew in disbelief.

"Dr-Drew…" he asked timidly, "A-Are you f-feeling okay..?" Part of Jowee wanted to run and hide from this strange, angry new Drew that punched right through the walls of houses and yelled at him to go away and abused Bakis within an inch of their lives, but somehow he knew… Drew needed someone to be there for him.

"Just dandy," Drew growled, removing his fist from the hole. "Let's get out of here." He headed off to the chasm without another word.

…

Having made their way across the chasm and into the forest a ways, Jowee was starting to get a bit uncomfortable. What with Drew's more and more frequent outbursts, some of them even violent… The raposa couldn't help being a bit scared. If Drew decided to kill him out here, no one would ever know… No, he couldn't think like that. Drew would never seriously hurt him… Right? He gulped. Adventuring was one thing… Traveling with an unstable creation hero was something else entirely.

"Drew," Jowee finally managed, forcing himself to swallow his fear for the moment. "What happened back there… No offense but… You don't seem… You know… Like yourself. Did… Did I do something wrong, Drew..?" He half expected the mannequin to turn and punch through him as he did to the wall, but instead he just sighed, stopping in his tracks.

"… No, no… It's not you I'm mad at, not really…" Jowee blinked.

"… Really?" Drew looked at him, and for the first time Jowee realized it wasn't just irritation in his eyes… It was an intense frustration, and more startlingly, despair.

"… I don't even know who I am anymore…" This further surprised Jowee.

"You're Drew," he reminded the mannequin, "The Creator's hero that saved us all from Wilfre…" Drew made a strange sound that, after a moment, Jowee recognized as a raspy laugh.

"Am I a hero, Jowee? I mean, really… It certainly doesn't feel like it."

"What do you mean..?" Drew sat down on a rock jutting from the forest floor, his expression pained.

"Think about it, for a moment. All I seem to do is random miscellaneous tasks for you guys. 'Fetch this' 'go get that' 'can you find my' over and over and over. That's not heroics! That's like being a mail carrier or something. And look at THIS," Drew thrust forward the hand he'd smashed through the wall, only it wasn't really a hand anymore, it was just… "Wood, Jowee. That's all I've ever been, under the creation ink. I'm not even really alive. I'm nothing but wood with the illusion of life. And then…" He stopped and Jowee looked up at him worriedly… He'd never seen Drew like this before.

"And then..?" Jowee prompted.

"I thought I was supposed to protect the raposas, Jowee. All of them."

"But, you did!" Jowee protested. "You saved us!"

"I saved most of you," he amended bitterly. "Mari was right, blaming me for the Mayor's death. I should have been there. And then there's Wilfre. He was a raposa, too." Jowee frowned.

"You couldn't have done anything for the Mayor… There's no way you could have known that was going to happen. It's not your fault… And Wilfre…" Jowee's voice sharpened as a touch of anger crept into it. "He WAS a raposa. He wasn't anymore by the time you found him."

"You're wrong, Jowee." Jowee did a double-take.

"What are you talking about? Wilfre was a monster! A murderer!"

"But he was still a raposa, under it all." Drew slumped slightly. "… Can you even imagine, Jowee, going out and chopping another raposa to death just because no one liked him, and he'd done some bad things? Can you imagine killing ANYTHING like that?"

Jowee thought for a moment. "… If I answer yes, does that mean I get a sword?" Drew shot him a furious look. He offered a sheepish smile. "… Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood…" Drew just sighed again.

"It's just… All this happening again… I can't help wondering if it's some sort of punishment, because I failed… Can I even call myself a hero?" Even though Jowee couldn't imagine being in Drew's position, he was starting to understand why he was so frustrated, and who the frustration was actually directed at…

It was pointed at himself.

Without another word, Jowee hopped up on the rock beside Drew, lightly patting his shoulder and doing his best to comfort him.

"Well," Jowee said with a smile. "You'll always be a hero to me." He thought for a moment, digging up some good memories. "Like… Remember when you defeated Frostwind? He was going to attack the village, and you stopped him. And all those raposas you rescued… You can't forget them, either. Our village was a wreck when you came along." Drew peered down at Jowee, blinking. "So, trust me, you're one of the good guys, and don't you ever forget it." Jowee wasn't sure where all that had come from, but somehow he was certain that this was exactly what Drew needed to hear. Finally, Drew smiled back.

"Jowee… Thanks." To Jowee's surprise, Drew actually reached down and started scratching around his furry ears. Even more surprising… He LIKED it. The way he happily leaned into the petting actually forced a laugh out of Drew. It was such a silly scene…

"THAT'S the spot!" Jowee yelped, leaning into the scratching enthusiastically. "Right there…"

When it was over, the raposa scooted away a few inches, looking embarrassed. "Heh… I didn't know about that…" Drew grinned. The whole thing had been so ridiculous.

"Well, looks like I found your weakness." When Jowee looked nervous, he added, "Don't worry, I won't tell Mari."

"Thanks…" Jowee paused for a moment. "… So anyway, I guess we should get going, huh?"

"Yeah," Drew agreed, hopping to his feet. "We've got a long way to go to reach the monkeys' village before sundown." Jowee jumped down from the rock as well, even dashing ahead a little, filled with new energy, before realizing he'd left Drew behind.

"What're you waiting for, Drew? There's adventures just waiting to be had~!" Drew laughed at the raposa's enthusiasm and trudged after him… Funny, just a couple minutes before, he would have snapped at Jowee for being so silly. Now he didn't mind, and it even seemed to bring a spring to his step.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

…

Mari felt terror grip her chest. "This is bad…" she breathed. Half a dozen more things around the village had vanished aside from the bridge. Fortunately, none of it had been too important, but…

Things weren't looking good.

As much as Mari hated to think it… She was starting to find herself convinced that Wilfre was indeed involved, somehow. The very thought frightened her. After all… Who else would want to bring the raposa village back to ruins once more?

"Jowee, Drew…" She whispered. "Please be careful..!"

To be continued...


End file.
